


Enough

by magnetgirl



Category: Everwood
Genre: Gen, Just Add Kittens, Teen Angst, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 15:32:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5461769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetgirl/pseuds/magnetgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A cat and a memory help Bright work through his feelings after his father's harsh words (Episode 2.2 "Extra Ordinary")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enough

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cyren2132](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyren2132/gifts).



_"You're not smart enough!"_

 

Whatever.

Bright kicked the air, knowing his room was enough of a mess he’d connect with something. And he did. Laundry and something else, more solid . . . but not solid like a book or. . . probably a shoe. . . ?

Whatever.

He kicked again. Softer this time, dammit. He thought he’d feel better if he _did_ kick a book. A Math book. Full of equations and . . . whatever.

He plowed through the mess, knocking socks and empty soda cans to the side until he found his school bag and pulled back for a nice, strong kick. Maybe he’d break something. Didn’t matter if he was injured, he was already off the team. And he knew how to deal with that kind of pain. An injury and pain everyone could see might make the rest of this bearable. He hated every single person who’d awkwardly expressed sympathy about Colin and he hated that they’d now stopped even more.

Also if his foot was broken and bloody his doctor dad would have to deal with it and he liked the idea of shoving it in his face.

Bright pursed his lips. If he couldn’t come up with a better response to the situation than kicking his math book into oblivion while imagining his father poetically covered in blood, the big jerk was probably right. He’s not smart enough.

Whatever!

He kicked the bag and it felt good. It felt _great_. He kicked again. And again. Whatever, whatever, _whatever_.

He kicked with enough force to thrust the books and a pile of old papers through the half-open zipper and across the floor. As they fell with force or momentum or whatever an orange streak leapt from the desk chair where she’d been curled up in the sun, blissfully unaware of the turmoil around her, to hide snarling under the bed. Bright dropped down and pulled up the sheet to peer below. Big eyes full of accusation met his gaze. The orange and white striped tail moving side to side in rhythm with the last of the papers fluttering to the floor highlighted that he hadn’t just woken her, he’d scared her.

Bright sighed. “Stupid --”

“-- cat! Colin exclaimed, jerking his hand away from the hissing ball of fur. “She bit me!”

“She’s just scared.” Bright ignored Colin’s hand waving in his face and tried to grab the cat from a different angle.

“She _bit me_ ,” Colin repeated.

“This isn’t working.” Bright sat back on his feet. “I have an idea.”

“Bright, she --”

“Bit you, I know. I heard you the first time.” Colin opened his mouth to retort but Bright wasn’t paying him any attention. “She bites me every day. It means she likes you.” Colin rolled his eyes. “Listen, you get on that side and make like you’re going to grab her so she bolts over here and I’ll catch her.”

Colin sighed. He could think of ten other things he’d rather be doing but Bright was stuck on the idea. He moved opposite his friend and looked at the cat with a very real menace. She hissed but didn’t move. Colin really didn’t want to give her another chance to sink her teeth into him but he also didn’t want to be poking a bratty animal all afternoon. He reached toward the cat and she bolted out right into Bright’s arms. He snatched her up into a towel and lifted her to his chest.

“Shhh, Weasel, it’s okay.” Bright cooed at the cat as he placed her and the towel into the carrier. He scratched behind her ears as he lowered the cage door, pulling his hand out at the last minute as the cat settled resigned into the folds of the towel.

Watching, Colin was impressed. “You’re good at that.”

“Tackling?” Bright glanced at his friend and shrugged. “Yeah.” Colin shook his head but didn’t elaborate. “Your hand okay?”

“It’s --

\-- fine,” Colin told the vet.

“You should get it checked out. Cat bites can be dangerous.” Colin nodded, politely, but didn’t see the big deal.  The vet turned to Bright. “She’s in good health for a stray. These vaccinations are good for a year. You’ll want to make an appointment to have her spayed.”

“Right. . .” The vet let go of the cat’s hind legs and she ran at Bright, demanding to be picked up and removed from this awful place. Bright gathered the cat into his arms and glanced at the vet. When he’d first seen her Colin thought he understood Bright’s sudden affection for animals. She was pretty enough to feign interest for sure. But Bright seemed to be into the cat just as much as the girl.

The vet smiled and selected a bunch of pamphlets from a kiosk in the corner. “Here, these’ll get you started. If you have any questions, just call.” Bright nodded. Colin shook his head. She’d given him as wide an open as can be given but Bright barely seemed to notice. The vet looked over at Colin as Bright replaced the cat in her carrier. “Get that bite looked at.”

“I will.”

“I mean it. A cat’s mouth --”

“--is the most dangerous place in the world,” Bright read from the pamphlet.

Colin rolled his eyes. “That vet’s mouth is the most dangerous place in the world, am I right?”

Bright frowned. “The clinic’s closed Saturday but we could go to the ER.”

“Are you serious? It’s a scratch.”

“Your hand’s swollen as big as your face.”

Colin follow Bright’s glance to his hand. It _was_ swollen. Badly.

“Can’t your dad look at it?”

“You might need tests.” Colin shot him a look. Bright sighed. “If my dad finds out he won’t let me keep the cat.”

Colin groaned, but agreed. “You owe me. You owe me --”

“-- so big,” Colin repeated. They’d been in the exam room for over an hour. A nurse had given him something when they first arrived, he wasn’t sure what but he felt woozy. He’d had three vials of blood drawn because the cat got her shots _after_ she bit him. So he might have rabies or whatever. And he had to wait for his wound to be drained and sutured ‘cause even though it wasn’t busy, the kid with the cat bite was lowest priority.

“I’m sorry.” Bright looked contrite. “Does it hurt?”

Colin shrugged. “Maybe I’ll get strong pain meds out of this.”

They heard a knock and the door opened to a man who looked vaguely familiar. “I hear we have a cat bite.” Colin raised his hand. The doctor pressed the skin around the wound gently. “You know a cat’s mouth is the most dangerous place in the world.”

“I’ve heard that.”

Colin’s fingers jumped as the doctor pressed his hand. “There doesn’t appear to be any nerve damage. . .”

“Is that a possibility?” Bright gulped.

“Well, the hand is one of the more sensitive parts of the body.” The doctor turned to answer Colin’s friend directly. “You’re Harold Abbot’s son.”

“Uh. . .”

The doctor wagged a finger. “Bright!”

“Yeah.”

“Come here, you can help.” He gestured for Bright to hold up Colin’s hand.

Bright blinked. “. . .What?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ve done this with your dad a hundred times.” Bright found himself nodding because he didn’t want to admit it wasn’t true. “We’re down a nurse tonight, and this’ll go quicker if you assist.” He held out a small cotton swab.

Bright looked at Colin. He shrugged with something resembling encouragement. Bright accepted the swab and followed the doctor’s lead.

“Okay hold your hand steady, Colin. Now, Bright, I’m going to press here to drain the wound. You mop up any discharge that appears. Okay?”

“Okay. . .”

“Good.” The doctor pressed down Colin’s hand around the wound. Three different colored fluids oozed out. Colin made a face, it was disgusting. But Bright dabbed the skin gently, his brow furrowed with concentration. Colin thought he never seen his friend look so serious. “Good, good Bright, now again.” They repeated the process six times. Colin’s hand looked much flatter, almost normal. “Okay. A nurse will come dress it and I’ll write you a prescription for antibiotics -- make sure you take them all -- and something for pain if you want.” Colin nodded. “Okay. Almost done,” he assured the boys.

“Thanks,” murmured Colin. The doctor went out of the room. “That was cool, Bright.” Bright frowned. Colin waved his injured hand slightly. “You’re like a PA or whatever.”

“You shouldn’t move it.”

Colin grinned. “See?”

“What?”

“You’re good at this.” Bright shrugged dismissively. Colin cocked his head. “What, you don’t want to be a doctor because of your dad?”

Bright made a face. “I can’t be a doctor.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know,” Bright looked away, embarrassed. “I’m not . . . science enough.”

Colin raised an eyebrow. “You mean you’re not smart enough?”

“No,” Bright scoffed. “Well.” He met Colin’s eyes. “Yeah.”

“Bull,” Colin said, directly and immediately. Bright laughed, nervously and awkwardly. Colin grabbed his hand. “Bright. Listen.”

Bright looked at Colin’s hands, one injured, both cold, wrapped around his own. Feelings he never let out raced to the surface, imaginings he’d never admit to flashed behind his eyes. When Bright looked into the future he saw disappointment and failure. He was nothing like his father, or his sister, or Colin himself. Sure he could follow directions but he wasn’t any good at doing things on his own. He’d decided to save a stray cat and look where it landed them all. Colin hurt, the cat in danger if anyone found out. He should have left her alone. He screwed up everything he tried to do so easier, and better for everyone, he just not try too hard to begin with. People liked him fine. He didn’t need to be smart the way Amy is. He didn’t need to be loved the way Amy is.

Trust Colin to see through the lie.

“Bright?” He looked up to meet Colin’s worried eyes but there was a knock on the door before either could say another word. The nurse entered to dress Colin’s hand.

“I’ll go pick up your scrips,” Bright muttered in explanation as he hastily exited the room. He forced his heart to slow and his stomach to settle as he walked swiftly down the hall. “Stupid --”

“-- cat.” Bright pulled the ginger tabby from under his bed. Over the years he’d become quite adept at extricating her from wherever she’d curled herself into, and she'd come to trust him as much as a cat trusts anyone. She hissed as he sat back with her in his arms, but half-heartedly, and once he stopped moving she settled against his chest and started to purr. “I miss him, Weasel,” Bright whispered into the cat’s fur. The cat nudged her head up to brush his chin in response. In response to the warmth of his breath on her body but still, it was tangible. It was enough.

Bright’s eyes fell on his math book on the floor, half-concealed by fallen papers, and he made the choice to try.  

**Author's Note:**

> I chose to offer Everwood after reading your letter so I was thrilled to be matched to this prompt. I hope I captured some small part of the magic that is Bright Abbott. 
> 
> And while I would accept EMT or fire fighter as his future occupation, I choose veterinarian :)


End file.
